The North Korea Threat

April 29, 2003

Iraq's dictatorship repeatedly denied that it possessed weapons of mass destruction beyond those destroyed by U.N. inspection teams over the past 12 years. The inspectors could find no further evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons before they recently left Iraq nor have any been discovered by U.S. forces, who now control the country.

North Korea, however, not only admits that it possesses nuclear weapons, but says it will continue to manufacture them. What's more, the regime in Pyongyang threatens to use the weapons and sell them to others. North Korea has been testing medium- and long-range delivery systems for missile-borne nuclear warheads in violation of its agreement with the United States not to do so.

To say that North Korea poses a greater danger to U.S. national security than did pre-war Iraq is to state the obvious. Yet look at how differently the United States has responded to each threat.

America's primary reason for going to war against Iraq was to disarm Saddam Hussein's regime of the chemical and biological weapons that, so far, victorious coalition forces have not found.

Captured Iraqi scientists and military officers say there are no new chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Yet Washington still believes nonconventional arms will be uncovered. The Pentagon has said it will add 1,000 military and scientific personnel to teams now on the ground to push the search. Good. If there are such weapons, they must be destroyed.

As for the threat from North Korea, the administration at first refused to talk with the Kim Jong Il regime. Washington eventually agreed to trilateral talks with the North Koreans and the Chinese, which began last week.

North Korea poses a threat worthy of a tough response, including a total embargo and, if all else fails, the use of force.

Aggressive diplomacy is a must at this point. China and Japan, especially the former, must be persuaded to put pressure on the North Korean regime. They are the communist nation's principal trading partners and, next to South Korea, have the most to lose in the aftermath of Mr. Kim going nuclear.

As brutal as he was, Saddam Hussein seemed to have a better grip on reality and a greater sense of self-preservation than the saber-rattler in North Korea, who is openly inviting an aggressive response from the United States.

North Korea is the most dangerous threat to peace in the world today when it comes to the possibility of proliferating nuclear weapons and the technology to make such weapons. Its disarmament should be a priority for U.S. policymakers and for all of that country's neighbors.